Proverbs 22:1-16

Proverbs 22:6. in the way he should go puts more into the Heb. than it contains. It is lit. train up a child in proportion to his way i.e. train him suitably. The moral implication is absent. The stress is on the effect of training.

Proverbs 22:11. RV hides disorder of MT. Read, probably, The king loves the pure in heart, grace of lips is his good pleasure.

Proverbs 22:12 a is difficult. RV will not pass. The lit. Heb. is the eyes of Yahweh guard knowledge. The abstract knowledge in Heb. cannot mean its possessors; the eyes of Yahweh are nowhere said to guard anybody, and no Hebrew would say that the eyes of Yahweh guard knowledge in the sense of possessing it, nor does it give any connexion with Proverbs 22:12 b. Possibly we should read the eyes of Yahweh are upon those who keep knowledge.

Proverbs 22:14. The parallel in Proverbs 23:27 suggests that adulteress is the original reading for strange woman.

Section III. The Sayings of the Wise. This section falls into two divisions: (a) Proverbs 22:17 to Proverbs 24:22, (b) Proverbs 24:23. The first division abandons the couplet of the previous collection, and is characterized by the quatrain form. The first half of the quatrain generally consists of a prohibition, the second of a reason for it, based upon practical experience.